Birding Basics of Bad Rep Birds

Rethink your stance on these traditional “bad birds” with some birding basics from our expert.

By David Mizejewski

Eric Isselee/
Shutterstock.com

Blue jays have a reputation for being loud and obnoxious at feeders, but it might be time to give them a second chance.

Bluebirds, goldfinches, hummingbirds, chickadees and warblers are beloved by backyard birders everywhere. Not all backyard species are as lucky, though. Take a look at these three bird families. Some people love ’em, while others don’t want them in backyards at all. What’s your perspective? Maybe after you know a little more about their behavior and their role in the ecosystem, you might develop an appreciation for these “bad birds.”

CROWS

These large, gregarious birds probably first earned their bad rep because they’re scavengers, feeding on the dead bodies of other animals (including humans). This behavior, combined with their black color, has led them to become a symbol of death and a harbinger of doom in many cultures.

But once you look beyond the mythology, you’ll see a remarkably intelligent bird. Natural problem solvers, crows are supremely adaptable. They live in tight-knit groups and aren’t afraid to gang up on would-be predators to protect their families. Their scavenging plays an important ecosystem function by cleaning up carrion. Just make sure your trash cans have tight-fitting lids and you shouldn’t have any problems with crows.

JAYS

Like their cousins the crows, jays are quite intelligent. Their calls are mostly harsh shrieks and they can be bullies at the bird feeder, but they have redeeming qualities, too. Jays are beautiful. Scrub, blue, pinyon and Steller’s jays come in lovely shades of blue, ranging from azure to indigo. Green jays also have blue heads, but their bodies are a gorgeous chartreuse.

Jays have the remarkable ability to remember the location of acorns and other nuts hidden months earlier. They can cleverly mimic the calls of other birds, including raptors such as the red-shouldered hawk. If you live in Florida, you might get lucky enough to attract the threatened Florida scrub-jay, sightings of which are a rare treat.

HAWKS

Hawks are predators and feed on a wide range of animals. Red-tailed hawks take prey as large as rabbits, while tiny kestrels feed mostly on insects. It’s the medium-size accipiter hawks, however, that are often unwelcome in the garden. Species such as sharp-shinned and Cooper’s hawks feed on smaller birds and quickly learn that bird feeders, with their crowds of songbirds, are great hunting spots.

Try to keep in mind that such predation is totally natural, and that hawks need to eat and feed their babies, too. You can still help out your songbirds, though. Provide cover in the form of dense shrubs or a brush pile nearby. This way the songbirds will have a good chance of eluding raptors.

UNWELCOME GUESTS

Here are a couple of “bad guy” birds that you don’t want in your backyard.

House sparrows.
Introduced to North America in the mid-1800s, they’re aggressive and often chase native birds away from feeders. They also take over bluebird houses. Do your best to discourage them from your yard.

European starlings.
These were introduced to North America around 1890. If you have starlings at your feeders, take down feeders for a few days to see if the invaders will move on.

I would add a couple members of the Blackbird family to the list. We’re in a rural area of Central Texas and the Brewer’s Blackbirds descend by the hundreds in winter. Brown-headed Cowbirds are very aggressive, not to mention that they lay their eggs in the songbirds’ nests.

There is one bad downside to crows they will rob other birds nest and take the young off. I saw it happen this year and the worst is they are smart and will return to get all the young from a nest.The young wren mother and father fought as best they could. Then I and my trusty shot gun helped them out.

I agree, Blue Jays are really loud at my feeding sanctuary. I always know when they’ve come, but they are beautiful and very fun to watch. Two days ago, I counted at least 10 at one time!!! They were jumping and flying around it was hard to count them all. I didn’t know they gathered in such large groups. Wow. That was a first for me.

As far as crows, they are so smart… love watching them when they check out my feeding area. Love the fact they are family oriented and communicate with each other. Wish I knew what they were saying. I know there is a call they make when one of them have died – a sort of mourning call of loosing family. Also, when feeding, one keeps a lookout. And, although it’s been years ago, I had one take a cracker out of my hand. How cool was that?!

My sanctuary is visited by all kinds of birds, (even a turkey… another wow moment!), including Hawks, which I watch for a minute (taking a quick pic) and then chase them away as I’m not running a birdie smorgasbord, but all birds are part of this world and I appreciate them all. My favorite… Hummers.

I hate to think of how much I’ve spent on bird food over the past 19 years, but throughout each season I’ve experienced great pleasure.

You forgot the a big offender the grackle. They chase the native birds from the feeder and toss eggs and baby birds from nests. They only eat certain seed and toss the rest out of the feeder. They can empty a large feeder in half a day onto the ground.

The only birds with which I have a problem are starlings and then only because they descend like a pack of wolves. They only eat the suet which is only a problem because of the other birds that eat the suet. I have 3 Downies, 2 Flickers, a thrush and 2 robins that also eat only the suet. If the starlings would eat something else I would not care. Everyone else gets along fine – sparrows, jays, chickadees, nd finches.

I like blue jays and I love hawks because they thin the mole, chipmunk & squirrel populations. Crows eat up the corn when you plant it but my problem is how to limit or eliminate the cowbirds while feeding the other birds.

Lee, at least around my house, the cowbirds hang out with red-winged blackbirds, grackles, and starlings. Maybe if you remove your feeders for a couple of days like it says in the article to discourage the starlings, they will move on.

My problem with crows is that they raid smaller birds nests and eat the eggs and/or the babies. I do my best to discourage them from hanging around. We also have way too many English sparrows, don’t know how to get rid of them!

I’ve been able to discourage these birds by filling the feeder with safflower seeds. But that seed is very expensive. Now I have to chase them away from my suet feeder. They can demolish a suet cake in just a couple of days! If anyone knows how to solve the suet problem, please let us know.

House sparrows can kill Blue Birds and their babies along with piercing their eggs.
House wrens are a big threat to other birds especially Blue Birds, who are laying eggs in their habitat area as they will enter their nests or bird houses, pierce and remove their eggs, and then empty their nest out. Then, they make their own nest in the empty bird house.

Maybe we’re just lucky here in San Diego but “invaders” like House Sparrows, European Starlings, and Collared Doves get along with our “native” birds at our five feeders. Our local Western Scrub Jays feast on peanuts. Several beautiful crows hang out to scavenge the peanuts the jays drop.

Regarding cowbirds they are a good sign because they can’t reproduce without a healthy population of other song birds. All the cowbirds in America do far less damage to bird populations than our pet cats (we keep our two indoors 100%) or one big housing/commercial project. At the feeders our Brown-Headed Cowbirds are welcome with the rest of the crowd because they’re mild mannered and never pushy .

Don’t forget about grackles as unwanted visitors!! They’ve ruined my birdfeeding all spring. Impossible to get rid of, and I’ve tried taking the feeder down and also tried a feeder with a pressure bar:/

I wonder why you would say to remember hawks need to eat and feed their babies but turn total thumbs down on sparrows and starlings. I have both at my feeders and don’t lack for cardinals, finches, blue jays, juncoes and a whole host of others as well. Put your feeders for “desirable” birds close to shrubs and put your feeders for “undesirable” birds in a totally open spot as far away from the shrubs as possible. Enjoy both.

The grackles and starlings get my “thumbs down.” Grackles will hog the feeder for hours. Some starlings have taken a liking to my upside down suet feeder and will either “hover” like a hummingbird to peck from it or a few of them will actually hang upside down to eat from it. Grrrrrrr…..

Hi Joan, I was told to put up tin foil or some sort of paper decal on my window to discourage the cardinal. He is likely seeing his reflection in the glass and thinks it is his rival. They can badly injure themselves if they keep doing that. Good luck!

can’t seem to figure out how to get rid of house sparrows that always fight with tree swallows for the houses we have up I’ve pulled their nest out over and over and they still come back and fight the swallows

I also would like to know how to get rid of the cowbirds. They eat everything that i put out for the birds and the squirrels. They even try to eat at the finch feeders even though they are too large. Help me do something about these cowbirds!!!

Cowbirds are my problem as well. They have been mixing with the red-winged blackbirds in flocks here lately. Wisconsin. The cowbirds chase away the little singing birds. Any advice on how to get rid of the cowbirds?

Also doesn’t address aggressive robins who are actively hunting the bluebirds we have in our nesting box. I was putting dried mealworms on the deck for the blues and thought all was ok when the robin was eating them too since I was refilling the tray regularly in the winter. But over the last few weeks, I saw the robin guarding the worms & chasing the blue birds off the deck whenever they tried to stop for a meal. Also saw the robing dive bombing them as they flew in the back yard. So no more mealworms… figured it’s better to stop feeding the blues & make sure they keep their house rather than risk them abandoning it b/c of the wretched aggressive robin.

I guess jays are jays. We don’t have blue jays in our area, but we do have pinion jays and scrub jays. They especially bug our dog. When camping they think his food is a great treat. They are so smart. One bird will distract him while another raids his food bowl. Ravens tease him even more. They love sitting on a phone line cawing at him till he barks and barks. Hawks visit our feeder and snack on the song birds occasionally. Puts a new twist to the term bird feeder. I hate the action, but not the bird. Seems they don’t hang around, being content to snack and move on.

You neglected to list the brown-headed cowbird! We’re having issues with several brown-headed cowbirds taking over our yard. Thus, we haven’t seen any rose-breasted grosbeaks or indigo buntings in our yard this year and only one oriole. Last year we had a dozen. Sparrows haven’t kept away those two birds!